Everest – Movie Review

I need to give a review on this movie and I honestly do not know where to begin with this. I have been trying to gather my thoughts about it and although visually this isn’t a bad movie and it doesn’t have a bad story, it’s based on a true story about a group of people that climbed Mount Everest. The movie just didn’t hit my “great movie” experience feels, is that a word? Feels? Anyways, back to the review.

The movie starts off with a company that takes rich people (well, I assume they are rich) on climbing expeditions and in specifically, to Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain to climb. We begin with the usual opening in a climbing movie, let’s get to know the people that are going to die, etc…ha, I didn’t give anything away people, you are watching a movie about climbers going to the world’s highest peak, where you can fall and freeze to death, no spoiler there and they made a movie about it.

So we follow these guys and their journey to reach the top, it’s one of those movies where you need to get comfy and prepare yourself for a long journey of their trek and their adventure. The main character here is played by Jason Clarke who is the main guide and owner of the expedition company taking these people to the top. You can’t always count on the conditions to be great when going on a climb like that, and based on the trailers, you know that is what they are in for.

Much of what you see in the trailer is probably the best part of the movie and you get the idea of the story. I liked the characters and the actors did a great job letting us know them better by getting to know the different personalities each person had. They spend the first half of the movie letting us know these people and I think it was an important part of the movie, but also felt drawn out. I did understand and like them, but I also knew what was going to happen.

The movie although based on a true story is very predictable and even if you don’t know the true story of it and who died and what happened because you read the book, based on the setup of the characters you know exactly who was going to die. So knowing that should you keep watching? Why are you still watching? Probably because you want to know how and why?

I have to give the movie props for their visuals and the cinematography was amazing, this is the best version of Mount Everest you will ever see on screen I think. The movie was shot in IMAX, for obvious reasons. It’s Mount Everest. What I liked with the visuals was the shots they chose to use in the movie, a lot of sweeping camera movements from above the mountain, below and around, great views also when they make the trek up to the different base camps. I know they had to of used sound stages for some of their more intense moments and not put people in harm’s way in a environment they couldn’t control. I had a hard time knowing what was CGI or when they were on a soundstage or when they were on an actual mountain.

Overall this is a movie that you should watch if there is nothing else to watch. If you do see it, spend time on a sunday afternoon or lazy saturday when you may not have anything else planned. It’s not a bad movie, but there are other movies I would watch before this one. I may not watch it again, but I will keep it in my library of movies for those days when I want to do nothing and see awesome view of Mount Everest in the safety of my warm home.

I have to give this movie a “Don’t Bother” but with the caveat that it has a use on days without much else going on.